Finding Broncos: Scouting East Carolina OT D'Ante Smith

Finding Broncos scouts the 2021 NFL draft class to find the best Mile High fits. What's the scoop on D'Ante Smith and how would he fit in Denver?

Welcome to Finding Broncos, our annual prospect-by-prospect series deep-diving on the coming NFL draft class. The scouting continues with East Carolina offensive tackle D'Ante Smith, a talented prospect, but does he fit with the Broncos?

Measurables

• Height: 6 foot 5
• Weight: 300 pounds

Pros

• Has a quick kick-slide to win the early positioning battle.
• Tough in his pass sets and doesn’t let himself get bullied.
• Very loose and mobile and his lateral agility is excellent.
• Has good length to keep defenders off of his body.
• There is good hand technique in place with a solid punch in terms of power, but placement is consistently on point.
• Keeps his hands up and ready.
• When he plays with a good base and balance, he is hard to move off of his spot.

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Cons

• Need to work with a lot better balance for the NFL as he is on his toes and easy to pull out of position.
• Needs to be more consistent with his footwork and bend.
• There needs to be the development of his football IQ and his reads of pressure packages to identify stunts and delayed blitzes.
• Needs to spend time in the weight room to get stronger and potentially add more power.
• Doesn’t have much driving power in his lower half.
• Needs a stronger anchor but improving his base and balance can really help there.
• Not much positional or scheme versatility as he is a tackle only in an outside zone scheme.

Overview

It is hard to not come away impressed with the movement skills that D’Ante Smith shows consistently on tape. He moves so effortlessly and does such a great job finding his landmarks on outside runs.

The big issue with Smith is going to be if he can get stronger and add more power to his frame. Right now, he is severely scheme limited to an outside-only scheme and that won’t change without spending time in the weight room.

Fit with Broncos

The Denver Broncos run inside zone, which needs the strength and power to generate push on the inside. There is some pulling chances that Smith can work with, but the base of their scheme just doesn’t fit.

He could be a developmental option for them, but it's a big question if he can add enough strength and power to really fit, or even if the Broncos make a coaching change, that they will bring in a scheme he is a more natural fit for.

Grade: Round 4

Where he goes: Round 3

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